Since that forum doesn't offer image hosting I'm posting my AAR here (Axis view). This will not be a complete AAR but just occasional thoughts on and images from the game. Both of us are novices. I'd played another PBEM game into 1940 before this game started, and I think MrPlow hadn't played any PBEM yet. We used patch v1.12 and the awesome BJR mod which requires manual install and memorizing some house rules but that really improves the game.

Here's a link to the beginning of my AAR on the Slitherine forum. I'll post the rest here since I can post pics.

The very very high level is that Germany ran a Sealion plan due to heavy Allied commitment (British and Canadian troops) to France. This took a long time so Germany had a very anemic Barbarossa. But in the meantime Germany was also able to push through Egypt into Irak. Start of Axis AAR

The main Western Allied effort has been in Tunisia and Sardinia but they are making a stab at Tripoli now. A UK CV was just sunk west of Sardinia. It would be fair to say that the Luftwaffe is completely dominant in central med. Another BB was just eliminated offf Sardinia by a combination of Luftwaffe and IT sub strikes.

As we move into spring of '43 it appears that the Soviets are without much offensive punch after last summer/fall's bloody offensive. The Western Allies continue to pour units into the med but it's the Marianas turkey shoot out there for the Luftwaffe.

What's remarkable is that the Germans lost strategic initiative in every theatre really in late 41 (other than Egypt/Iraq). However they are so strong in terms of tech/experience/air that the allies are not really able to get rolling. Germany has had max labs all game and Italy has been close to max labs. I think this has had a big impact. Germany also focused on building FTR's and has about 14-15 FTR's built - most with at least one pip of experience.

MrPlow and I have agreed on a plan to provide recompense to MrPlow for the illegal air tactic that I realized I was using (see post in other forum).

We move into spring of 43 and things are pretty static.

Baghdad finally falls with pretty heavy German losses during the assault.

Finland falls to the Red Army with heavy losses to the Soviets but a German infantry corp is trapped.

Allies continue to make slow progress in Central Med, in particular around Tripoli, but the allied foothold in Sardinia seems about to be driven from the beaches by the newly arrived German infantry corp as only a single 3 strength US MOT corp remains. Axis air focuses on punishing the allied navy.

Germany has been trying to hover around the 75% manpower mark and buy 1 unit per turn but this turn Germany had almost 400 PP's saved up so I finally just purchased a bunch of units with the -1 quality. Of particular note the Germans built 2 ARM and 2 TAC. Even though the Axis has limited oil the middle east oil should hold for awhile no matter what the allies do and these units could help throw an allied invasion off the beaches. The spring '43 campaign is about to kick off and it's time to prepare for the next Soviet offensive, and garrison Italy and France in preparation for the next Allied offensive thrust. The best possible scenario would be for the allies to fiddle around in Iraq and Libya/Egypt for all of 43 but it's doubtful they'll be content w/ that. The airbase in Corsica could be used to support an invasion of southern France or northern Italy.

In the Central Med the allied navy has disappeared. The total allied commitment to the Med at the moment appears to be 1x BB, 3x FTR, 2x INF, 1x MOT. The allies still hold Corsica and are close to taking Tripoli. It appears that the allies have not been committing new forces other than a couple FTR's to this theater for several months. This probably means they have some other operations brewing: Iraq, Egypt, Southern France, Italy, North France, England, Norway....so many possibilities.

The air war has been all in favor of the allies since the German FTR's were withdrawn due to my break-age of the BJR house rule.

The general Axis plan in the med at this point is to resist each step the allies take. If ports are lost and German activation limits are reduced in north africa then it won't be a big problem because the German forces in Iraq can stand in place and die to hold onto the oil as long as possible. The main problem will be to keep at least one port for supply, although maybe the capitol of Baghdad provides supply also - I'm not sure. Either way it will be a long time until the allies can take Iraq I think, and the oil will continue to flow.

In USSR there has been some skirmishing but not much fighting in the last year. The Soviets have been building up around Smolensk and also near the Dnepr bend in the far south.

It looks like the Soviets are close to launching an offensive aimed at Minsk again, although it's also possible the Soviets will try to infiltrate the Pripyet marsh aiming at the Luftwaffe air base west of Kiev. However they are still apparently weak in the air so hopefully the Luftwaffe can blunt the offensive.

German tech overall is superior so the Germans have been able to stave off every allied/soviet offensive to date. Germany however has passed below the 75% manpower level so quality will suffer to some extent. Some high tech unit investments have been made lately: SUB, TAC, ARM, leaders. There have also been a few more INF built as well. The Italians have built out all of their leaders.

Here's a view of the western defenses. The allied navy has disappeared from the USSR lend-lease convoy lines and from the Med so it's likely that the allies are forming up some huge invasion force and are using their navy to escort it. The U-Boats have been raiding the Soviet convoys and scouting the central Atlantic. They are about to sail out again. One U-Boat is tracking a very large (about 140 point) Soviet convoy so hopefully a combination of a BB + 4 SUBs can sink it when it gets close to England next turn. The other 3 SUBs will head back into the Atlantic as scouts.

You can see the 7 FTR's in central Germany that were withdrawn due to my breakage of the BJR house rule.

Britain, North Ireland, and Norway are garrisoned w/ 2nd rate troops. If the allies invade any of those the plan is just to delay them and let the 2nd rate troops (Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, etc) die in place. Every turn closer to '45 is in the Axis' favor at this point, so all effort will be concentrated to defend Italy and France. In the unlikely event of an allied invasion of the Balkan countries (Greece, Albania, etc) it should be easy to stop them in the mountainous terrain there. Hopefully the allied invasion delays until some of the quarantined FTR's in central Germany are released.

In Britain there is only 1 reserve corp other than the troops garrisoning ports. In France every port is garrisoned and several counterattack units are in place (ARM, TAC). The next step is to place a couple more German infantry corps in Italy.

Now things get interesting. A turn or two ago the Soviets launched a bloody offensive - taking huge losses but grinding away. At least one German ARM and INF have been lost but the Soviet losses have been very heavy. It might come down to how long the Soviets can keep up the offensive while taking a pounding.

To the north the Wermacht counterattacks along the Baltic Sea.

The Soviets also try to repeatedly infiltre the Pripyets with some success.

Most of the combat however takes place just east of Minsk where it's a real slugfest. The Germans have higher tech, higher effectiveness, and an air edge though so they are able to hold.

In the Med the allies finally have Tripoli and consolidate their position. It will be interesting to see where they go next. They now have Tripoli and Corsica so they could go east to Benghazi/Tobruk but the mountainous terrain there might be tough. However they'd be out of range of Sicily-based air. Or they could use Corsican-based air to hit Italy next.

In Iraq there is a little sparring but the German/Italian contingent there is very strong so the allies don't make any progress.....yet.

Last turn a few wolfpacks spotted a large allied invasion fleet steaming across the north Atlantic. I wasn't sure whether they were going to hit Norway, Holland, or England.

MrPlow emailed to ask whether he could do one invasion during winter season (BJR rules prevent this). Since I'd illegally invaded Norway during winter (by mistake) and had the problem w/ air rules it only seemed fair to allow this out of season invasion by the very sporting MrPlow. :)

Somehow the invasion fleet made it almost to England, evading my scouting subs. This was a surprise - I must have had them out of position a little bit.

Some subs remain on picket duty, others continue to chase Soviet convoys, and 3 move in to attack the invasion fleet.

Some German korps sail from France to England and a fighter wing is rebased to England also. The sole remaining BB of the Kriegsmarine sails for the Baltic where it will probably spend the rest of the war bombarding Soviets.

Here' a shot of the invasion of North Ireland and Scotland. A FTR transport and an armor transport are sunk.

The idea here isn't to hold England forever - just to delay the allies here, and bleed them.

I think MrPlow made the right choice of invasion target. I think realistically it had to be Spain/Portugal, England, or Italy. All would let him actually get ashore and establish an air base with the only one that would be shaky - Italy- offering the possibility of a long shoreline and quick conquest. I would have chosen England too.

Unfortunately for me I had most of my navy/subs out of position to respond to this invasion.

The British push doggedly south through Scotland. Luftwaffe based in the midlands is able to sink some allied transports off the west coast of Ireland (ARM and FTR). The wolfpacks focus mainly on Soviet lend lease convoys.

Some more German troops are shipped to England to stiffen the resistance. Losses to the allies have been heavy.

In Russia the fighting continues in brutal fashion through the winter. The German's superior effectiveness (tech + leaders), tech advantage, and air superiority proves decisive and they are able to counterattack, taking Pskov. Unfortunately German manpower dips below the 50% mark - never to return.

The brutal war continues in USSR as the Germans run short on manpower, oil, and PP's from fighting on 2 fronts. It looks like a stab for the Caucasus might almost be possible but Germany doesn't have enough oil to fuel such a drive while fighting in the Atlantic, in North Africa, and in England.

MrPlow and I have agreed to end the game since looks like no real chance for allies to move too much farther before May 45.

I think we both had great fun and learned a lot. MrPlow is a great PBEM opponent. In our next game we're switching sides. :)

I think the Axis successes in the Egypt when I didn't necessarily expect to succeed there, the massive Soviet casualties in summer of '42 during their failed offensive, the constant effectiveness of German subs, and the painful allied offensive in 43 in the Med that ultimately fizzled out....all of these were the keys to the game. Also the Germans kept a tech and effectiveness edge throughout the game on every front. Also once I realized that Barbarossa had no real shot of success, Germany just secured a defensible front - much of which was not even in USSR so didn't have to endure winter effects. This meant very low losses for Germany so manpower didn't hit problems until late in the war. It also meant that when the Red Army exposed itself the Germans were poised to counterstrike from a position of strength. This counterpunch repeatedly gutted the Soviet high cost formations.

Even with Iraq oil the Germans were perilously low on oil, manpower, and having PP problems as well in 1944. It is easy to imagine how quickly Germany could collapse w/o the Iraq oil and if Germany hit manpower problems earlier.

Following are some screenshots including casualties, tech, production, etc at end of game.